Semolina, Coconut + Marmalade Cake

If you ever get fed up smelling the roses, try orange blossom water instead.  Gorgeous.  I’ve been inhaling the heady scent since dousing these cakes with it.  And in case that’s not enough, you can flavour the yoghurt with it too.

I took one of these loaves along to our December book club’s pot luck dinner. It was a lovely way to end our year of book club sessions – wine, food and conviviality.

The cake is about as simple as it can get – whisk the wet, stir the dry, mix together, pour into tins and bake.  It has that thick open texture you normally get with such cakes. The marmalade gives it a slight bitterness but it’s the orange blossom that gives it the edge in flavour and aroma.

Semolina, coconut & marmalade cake

From Jerusalem by Yottam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi

Makes two 500g loaves.  If you want to make a 1kg loaf, increase cooking time by a further 20-30 minutes.

180ml rice bran oil

240ml fresh orange juice

160g orange marmalade (fine cut or without peel)

4 eggs

grated zest of 1 orange

70g caster sugar

70g desiccated coconut

90g standard flour

180g semolina

2 tbsp ground almonds

2 tsp baking powder

Soaking Syrup

200g caster sugar

140ml water

1 tbsp orange blossom water

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°F. 

Grease and line two 500g loaf tins with baking paper.

In a bowl, whisk together the oil, orange juice, marmalade, eggs and orange zest until the marmalade dissolves.

In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients and add to the wet.  Mix until well combined – it will be quite runny. 

Divide the filling between them.  Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.  They should be orangey-brown on top.

Near the end of baking time, place the syrup ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.  Remove from the heat. 

As soon as the cakes come out the oven, brush them with the hot syrup using a pastry brush.  Do this several times, leaving the syrup to soak in before applying again, until all the syrup is used.  You’ll enjoy this as the perfume wafts into the air.

Once the cakes have cooled down a little, remove from the tins and leave to cool completely.

Serve with coconut yoghurt or Greek yoghurt flavoured with a drop of orange blossom water.

Like citrus?  Try my favourite lemon cake of all.

Chocolate Caramel Banoffee Tarts

Fridays, I have off.  I have had to train myself to go and do something I enjoy on these days otherwise  I can fritter the time away at home accomplishing what feels like nothing (even though it is not).  So I took off today to Ruben in Parnell Road.  Except I couldn't find it (incorrect street number on referring blogs) even though I wandered up and down a few times.  Fortunately I'd already spied Vaniye where I'd purchased some croissants for the weekend so I returned for a second time that morning and sat in their small but tastefully elegant space with a crisp, buttery almond croissant in all its gorgeousness and a good coffee.

Later I headed across town to the Capitol Cinema to take in the movie, Frances Ha, which I'd spotted but not had a chance to get to at the recent Auckland Film Festival.  It was funny to hear the elderly woman behind me commenting at the closing credits "well that was a lot about not much at all".  We were probably not the film's target audience age group really but the lead actress plays her part so endearingly well that she won me over.  Filmed in black and white and with nods to Woody Allen, it was amusing and sometimes awkward as it follows the late-twenties Frances as she tries to find her way in life (and homes).

What all this has to do with chocolate banoffee pies, I have no idea, except I had no other way of introducing them so I decided to waffle on about what I'd done today.

After our food bloggers' afternoon tea, I promised I'd share this recipe so here it is. This is the first time I've ever made banoffee pies (or in this case, chocolate caramel banoffee tarts) but I can assure you it will not be the last.  They are very tasty and not too decadent as they are only a mouthful or two!

If you make the tart shells ahead of time (they will keep for a couple of days in an airtight tin) it makes for a reasonably easy assembly on the day of eating.  I am sure they will also freeze well too.

The recipe used mini-muffin tins for cooking.  However I found these made tiny cases that were too small for the filling and the pastry too thick so I used tart tins.  Leave the banana slices and cream topping until you are ready to serve (brushing a teensy bit of lemon juice on the banana will stop it from  browning).

I'm sharing this recipe at Sweet New Zealand, hosted this month by Sweets & Brains.

Chocolate Caramel Banoffee Tarts

1 1/2 cups (225g) plain flour
1/4 cup (40g) icing sugar
1/4 cup (25g) cocoa powder
185g (6oz) cold butter, chopped coarsely
1 egg yolk
2 tsp iced water
1 small banana
1/3 cup (80ml) whipped cream

chocolate caramel filling

60g (2oz) butter, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup (55g) brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup (300g) sweetened condensed milk
30g (1oz) good quality dark chocolate, chopped coarsely
2 tsp golden syrup or treacle


Place the sifted flour, sugar, cocoa and butter in a food processor and process until crumbly.  With motor running, add egg yolk and enough of the iced water to make ingredients cling together.  Turn the dough onto a floured surface (it will be still be crumbly) and knead gently until smooth.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Grease two 12-hole tart tins.  Roll out half the pastry between two sheets of plastic wrap or baking paper until just under 5mm (1/4 thick).  Cut out rounds to fit the holes in your tart tins (use the thin rim of a round wine glass or drinking glass to cut if you don't have anything else - just not your expensive crystal and a heavy fist!).

Ease the pastry neatly into the holes.  Repeat the process with the other half of pastry.  Prick the bases of the tarts with a fork and refrigerate again for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C.  Bake cases for about 12 minutes - watch carefully to ensure the tops do not burn.  Remove from the oven and leave in the tins for 5 minutes before removing to a cake rack to cool.  The cases can be made two days ahead.  Store in an airtight container if you are not going to use immediately.

chocolate caramel filling

Stir the butter and sugar in a small saucepan over a low heat until the sugar dissolves.  Add the condensed milk and stir for 5 minutes or until the mixture boils and thickens (make sure it does not catch on the bottom of the saucepan).

Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate and golden syrup (or treacle) until smooth.  Remove from the heat.

Divide the hot caramel filling into the pastry cases.  Leave to cool and then refrigerate for 1 hour.

When ready to serve, place a slice of banana on top of each tart (brush very lightly with lemon juice if they will be sititng for a while - this stops the banana going brown) and then either pipe or dollop some whipped cream on the top.  Dust with sifted cocoa powder if you wish.

Pear & Walnut Gingerbread Cakes

When someone asked me for a recommendation for a dessert recently this one tripped off my tongue with no hesitation.  Spicy gingerbread, pears and warm butterscotch sauce are just the perfect combination for a winter pudding. I’ve been making this one since I first discovered it in Cuisine magazine seven years ago. 

After passing the recipe on to said friend, I then hankered to bake it myself.  That said, there was no foreseeable need for a large cake in our mini-household of two.  So I fell back on my tried and trusty Plan B – make smaller cakes!  The beauty of this was that those not consumed immediately are ready in the freezer for those days when I can’t resist something sweet with coffee (every day, then?).

The recipe given is for the entire cake and I urge you to make it whole.  The finished cake looks amazing with a circle of halved pears drizzled with butterscotch sauce.

However, if you want to make the smaller cakes, use lightly greased friand or cupcake tins.  I halved the recipe (and used one pear instead of three) and instead of creaming the first portion of butter and sugar to line the tin, I creamed all the butter and sugar (without adding any extra ingredients at this first stage) and dropped in about a teaspoon to line each friand mould. Into each tin, I placed two slices of pear. I omitted the walnut halves completely.  I then added the remaining ingredients (including the walnut pieces) to the creamed butter and sugar and continued as per the recipe stated.  I cooked the cakes for about 20 minutes.  Just test them by pressing lightly on top with your fingertips or inserting a cake skewer in the centre.  The halved recipe made about seven little cakes.

And as for the butterscotch sauce - who could resist it?  Well apparently I could after I failed to make it properly on this occasion.  I think I may have overcooked it as it hardened immediately when it was poured over the pudding.  Resembling wax drips from a candle I was then able to lift it off completely, looking like a toffee-coloured, plastic mould.  Oh well, fortunately the cakes were just divine even without the sauce.

Pear & Walnut Gingerbread Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce

Serves 6-8

210g butter

250g muscovado sugar

3 ripe pears, peeled, halved & cores removed (with a melon baller if you have one)

6 walnut halves

2 eggs

2 tablespoons treacle

250g flour

1/2 cup walnut pieces

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tbsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp each ground cinnamon and cloves

150ml warm milk

Preheat the oven to 175°C.

Cream 60g of the butter and 90g of the sugar and spread over the base of a 24cm-diameter cake tin.

Place the pear halves, core side down, on top of the creamed butter and sugar. Dot the walnut halves in between the pear halves.

Cream the remaining butter and sugar then beat in the eggs and treacle. Stir in remaining ingredients until well mixed but do not beat. Pour the mixture over the pears and walnuts.

Place in the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes or until you can tell the pears are tender when a skewer slides easily through a pear half to the bottom of the tin and the middle of the pudding batter is cooked.

Serve with the hot butterscotch sauce and a dusting of icing sugar.

Butterscotch sauce

240g caster sugar

240g brown sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup

250ml cold water

1½ tbsp butter

½ tsp vanilla essence

Put the sugars, golden syrup and 150ml of the cold water into a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugars and syrup.

Once boiling, stop stirring and boil until a little dropped into a glass of cold water forms a soft ball (5 minutes).

Remove from the heat, add the butter, the remaining water and vanilla and mix well, but do not beat.

Cool. It will become quite hard and crystallize once cold.

Just before serving, bring to the boil to melt and dissolve any sugar crystals.

Recipe from Ray McVinnie

Cuisine magazine Issue 111, July 2005

Soft-centred Chocolate Puddings

I don’t know if it’s the colder weather but something is bringing on my constant hankering for things sweet, particularly those of the dark chocolate kind. 

Unusually for me, when I arrived home from work I dove straight into the pantry and set to work.  No guilt feelings about “spoiling my tea” – a refrain from childhood which has stuck with me.  I wasn’t in any mood for guilt trips today.  Dessert was coming early.  There were cravings to satisfy.

Not much more than half an hour later I was consuming one of these little beauties.  Not before the obligatory photo shoot though - hurried due to the impending natural shut down of light (and the fact that I just wanted to eat one!).

I first came upon these at a friend’s house when a guest brought along all the required ingredients and set about rustling these up, employing whipping assistants (no, really!) and effortlessly presenting the puds in pretty pastel ramekins of different shades.  Glorious.

So here they are – impressive yet simple.  Serve them with single or whipped cream if you like but they tasted just fine on their own.  Craving satisfied – tick.  For now…..

I'm submitting these for Sweet New Zealand.  This month the very lovely Sue from Couscous & Consciousness  will be hosting.  More details here - check out the entries from 1 July.

Soft-centred chocolate puddings

Serves 4

200g (7oz) good quality dark chocolate, chopped

100g (3 ½ oz) unsalted butter, chopped

3 eggs, lightly beaten

115g (1/2 cup) caster sugar

2 tbsp plain flour

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).

Place the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (make sure the water does not touch the bowl).  Stir until just melted.

Mix the eggs, sugar and flour in a bowl until just combined.  Gradually pour in the chocolate mixture, stirring all the time.

Pour the chocolate mix into four 1-cup size (250ml) ovenproof ramekins and place on a baking tray.  Bake for about 15 minutes until the edges are set.

Dust with icing sugar – or don’t.  It’s up to you.

As easy as that.

Maltesers Ice Cream

Summer has come and gone (although we are still doing well weather-wise) and not once did I use my ice cream maker.  Not that it's a fancy-pancy one, but I did get excited about hauling it out of its box (yes, it lives in its box still) and trying out some of those fruit ice creams I'd been drooling over.  Sadly they never came to fruition (unintended pun!).  So I was kind of excited about this recipe until  I realized it didn't even require an ice cream maker.  Oh well, maybe next summer...

In the meantime, we can make the most of our Indian summer and try this creamy vanilla ice cream with little crunchy nugget bites of malt and chocolate. For those experiencing winter, It will just have to be hot chocolate or malt drinks, I'm afraid.

Maltesers Ice Cream

300ml single cream

40g caster sugar

2 eggs, separated

1 drop vanilla essence

1 small bag Maltesers (40g), crushed

Whip the cream until thick, cover and chill.  

Place the sugar and egg yolks in a bowl and beat until thick and fluffy.  Fold into the cream with the vanilla and chill again.

In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until thick and fold them into the ice cream mix, ensuring they are fully combined.

Pour into a freezer-proof container (an old ice cream container is perfect!) and freeze for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the ice cream is just beginning to freeze.

Fold in the crushed Maltesers and mix through.  Freeze for at least six hours or overnight.

This ice cream is best eaten within a couple of days.

For a touch more luxury you might like this 

Strawberry semifreddo with strawberries and Italian nougat

Recipe adapted from The Utterly Unrefined Cookbook (Billingtons).

Sweet Apple and Almond Cake

The desire for cake baking was too strong so I capitulated last week by making this appealing apple cake for book club.  Of course it would have been most impolite of me not to taste test it first so I did have a small slice. 

It’s one of those very moist cakes but light and with a good texture. Keeps for days apparently but who would know - book club members were advised I would not be taking any home so it was all consumed on the night.  I don’t know that it quite matched the plum, orange and almond cake but I’d definitely try it again.

I used the lovely, sweet apples from our tree, which is so laden with its bent boughs skirting the grass.  Look up above and there are larger apples out of reach but which we’ll shake down, hopefully before they are eaten by the birds (and the naughty possums).

The recipe comes from Gorgeous Cakes by Annie Bell and is known as Somerset Apple Cake (but being a long way from the English West Country I could hardly call it that). 

The recipe used Granny Smith apples - more tart than those from my tree - but I don’t think the cake was any the worse for the use of sweet apples.  It certainly benefited from the splosh of Malibu.  The original recipe stated an optional apple brandy or Calvados, but I once drank the latter to impress an attractive French guy on a date in London and he turned out to be a dickhead (looks are not everything) and the drink didn’t rate too highly with me either, so Malibu it was.

And the book?  Well that was the rather strange The Elephant Keepers’ Children by Peter Hoeg (famous for his Smilla's Sense of Snow).  It’s an offbeat story about the madcap adventures of three siblings whose eccentric parents have mysteriously disappeared; full of flamboyance and oddball characters. The theme of the title refers not to real elephants but the secret unseen elephants that lurk either in the room or in some people.  Some good moments and themes, but I wasn’t really sure what to make of it and at just under 400 pages, I was quite glad to put it to rest.

Sweet Apple and Almond cake

3 apples

lemon juice

175g caster sugar

175g unsalted butter, diced

3 eggs, separated

175g ground almonds

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon Malibu (optional)

Leaving the skin on the apples, quarter and core them.  Slice three of the quarters very thinly (these are for the top of the cake so depending on apple size, you may need more or less slices) and pop in a small bowl with a squeeze of lemon juice to stop the apples from browning.  Slice the remaining apple slices more thickly and place in a separate bowl and toss with a squeeze of lemon and 1 tablespoon of the sugar.

Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F.  Grease and line a 20cm cake tin. 

Cream the butter and remaining sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg yolks one at a time until incorporated. 

Using a spatula, gently incorporate the almonds and sifted baking powder into the mixture until just combined.  Do not overmix.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff.  Gently fold half of the egg whites into the baking mix and when that is combined, fold in the second half.  Add the juice from the thickly sliced apples and Malibu (if using).  Take the thickly sliced apples and pat with paper towel to remove excess juice.  Add these to the mix, gently folding until just combined.

Transfer the baking mix into the cake tin, smoothing the top with a palette knife.

Drain the finely sliced apples and arrange on top of the cake.

Bake for approximately 1 hour 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Leave to cool completely in the tin.

Dust with icing sugar before serving. 

A bounty of apples?  Try this recipe.

Apple butter preserve

Creamy Orange Ice Blocks

They say never work with children or animals.  Well, I’m adding ice cream sticks to that. While they might not cause as much destruction as tiny tots or pets, it's only a matter of time before it all turns to custard (literally).   

So, with an eensy weensy frame of opportunity to photograph on a hot day, I quickly took 10 consecutive snaps before the ice blocks melted.  Setting up the styling in advance without the star attraction did help, but even so it sure didn't take too long for those little blocks to start disintegrating.

I then had a few messy minutes attempting to squeeze custardy melts into some resemblance of their original shape and back snugly in their moulds.  Don’t suppose there’s any takers for them now?

Although they were fiddly in a photographic sense, they are oh so  simple to make. Despite having cut out this recipe donkey’s years ago, I'd never really given much thought to making ice blocks but, after a few hot and humid days here, I thought I’d give them a go.

These are creamy and custardy with a hint of orange (I'd add more orange zest next time). Not quite as refreshing as a fruity ice block but nevertheless they'd be a cool alternative to dessert on a hot day or simply as a ‘rescue me’ package after a long, hot drive.

I was unable to source sophisticated, classy moulds for these so, apart from one grown-up wooden stick, children’s popsicle moulds it is! 

In the end, I had more mix than I had ice block moulds, so I poured the remainder (after adding a shot of Malibu coconut liqueur to it!) in a small oval container (similar to a mini-loaf tin), lined with cling wrap and popped it in the freezer.   That may do as a dessert one evening.

Creamy Orange Ice Blocks 

400g carton chilled custard (I used Vanilla Custard)

grated zest and juice of 3 small oranges (use more zest if you like)

250g mascarpone cheese

175g icing sugar

In a food processor, mix all the ingredients until smooth. Pour into the moulds and tap gently on the work surface to release any air bubbles.  Insert the sticks and freeze until required.  Yes, it is that simple.

This is the difficult part.  To remove, dip the moulds briefly in hot water and gently ease the blocks out. 

Serve individually as required, or arrange on a bowl of ice and decorate with some extra orange zest grated on top for a summer dessert.  Quick, before it melts!

I can’t think of a more summery, sweet New Zealand than this, so it’s my entry for this month’s Sweet New Zealand, hosted by someone who lives not too far from me but who I haven’t yet met, Arfi at HomeMadeS.

Decadent Chocolate Cake

I always feel a slight sense of relief when Christmas and New Year are over.  It means I can do what I want to do, in my own time, no deadlines.  Just relax.  That is what I intend to do.

I promised you chocolate cake, so here it is.  This has been my birthday chocolate cake for as long as I have been in New Zealand.  Until this year, I haven’t made it for about three years as I have been elsewhere on the day.  It’s dark, it’s moist, it’s rich – a real celebration of a cake. Oh and it's easy too.

Thank you for being with me this year and may the year ahead be what you would wish for.

Decadent chocolate cake 

1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

1 cup hot water

250g butter, chopped into large chunks

200g good quality dark chocolate, chopped (I used Whittaker’s 72% Cocoa Dark Ghana)

2 cups caster sugar

1½ cups self-raising flour

¼ cup cocoa

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Ganache Topping

¾ cup cream

175g good quality dark chocolate, chopped

Preheat the oven to 150ºC.  Lightly grease a 25cm springform cake pan and line the base and sides with baking paper. 

Place coffee and water in a saucepan and add the butter.  Stir over a low heat until the butter has melted. Add the chocolate and stir until melted. 

Add the caster sugar and stir until smooth and the sugar is incorporated.   Remove the mix from the saucepan and transfer into a cake-mixing bowl. 

Sift the flour and cocoa together and beat with an electric beater into the mixture until just incorporated.  Beat in the eggs and then the vanilla.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake at 150ºC for 1½ hours or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Stand for 5 minutes before removing to a cake rack.  I normally invert the cake as invariably the bottom is smoother and will therefore ice better. 

When completely cold, place a tray or plate under the cake rack to collect the excess ganache.  Use this to patch any bare bits on the side (or chill and eat later!). 

The cake can be frozen by wrapping, once cold, in a layer of cling film and then a layer of tin foil.  While frozen it is easier to trim off any rough bits or flatten the top.

Ganache Topping

Heat the cream until almost boiling.  Stir in the chocolate until melted and the mixture is smooth.  Cool slightly. 

Pour over the cake allowing the ganache to dribble down the sides of the cake evenly.  Cool and set. 

Do not touch the topping as it will leave a fingermark.

Strawberry season

 

Unless strawberries are very sweet and juicy, I'm not so taken with them in their natural state.   I just have to enhance them with sugar or vanilla syrup or cream, such is my wont (and sweet tooth).    Here's a couple of things I've done recently whilst we are in strawberry season.  The second is more of a what to do with just the wrong side of fresh strawberries assembly than a recipe - great for breakfast though.

Strawberry, rhubarb and vanilla crumble

Filling

2 punnets of strawberries, hulled and cut in half

1 bunch of rhubarb, washed and chopped into 2.5cm (1-inch) slices

zest and juice of 1 orange

1 teaspoon vanilla syrup* (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence)

1/3 cup brown sugar (use less or more according to taste and sweetness of fruit)

Crumble topping

1 cup (120g) plain flour

1 cup (140g) brown sugar

1 cup (100g) porridge oats

100g butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F)

Place the strawberries, rhubarb, orange zest and juice, vanilla syrup or essence and brown sugar in a large bowl and mix to combine.  Pour into a medium sized baking dish.

For the topping, place the flour and sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine.  Add the porridge oats and pulse a couple of times to combine.  Pour in the melted butter and pulse just to combine.

Distribute the topping evenly over the filling and bake for 30 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the rhubarb is cooked.

Serve with cream or custard.

Sweet strawberry yoghurt muesli 

Simply soak the strawberries, preferably overnight, in the juice and zest of an orange (just enough to coat the fruit) and a teaspoon of vanilla syrup* (or a couple of drops of vanilla essence).  In the morning, put a layer of muesli (see my recipe here) or cereal in a glass or bowl, top with a layer of yoghurt and finish off with the strawberries.  (I zap the strawberries in the microwave for about 10 seconds just to take the chill off before using).

*In both recipes, I used Equagold's Tahitian Vanilla Syrup - another of those divine products given to us at the Food Blogger' Conference.  

etcetera ...

Admiring someone else's plate

A Taste of Auckland

I took the resident hobby photographer along to the Taste of Auckland culinary festival last Thursday (for his photography prowess, not his conversation skills L). Fortunately, those exhibiting had conversation in abundance for me so I didn’t feel lonely. The threatened rain stayed away until we were heading home and little plops began to fall.  Good timing.  

Euro's lamb dish

I’d done some research beforehand to save time dithering on what I was going to sample, so off we headed to Euro for my “main course” of lamb, while Bill chose and slurped his way through their wickedly good sauce of jalapeno crème fraiche, dotted with a small helping of crab and prawns.  He won on that round. My roasted lamb rump was fine but I thought it would be great.  The mint and pea panna cotta accompanying it was the real standout both for taste and attractiveness.

My wine pick from the Vilagrad Winery stand was a 3 Brothers Wairarapa Pinot Noir and strangely enough for me, this was the only glass or taste I had all evening.

Make mine a Prawn Cocktail please

Reversing my own meal order and returning to starters, I visited Mexico for the tall cocktail of Prawns in Chipotle Mayo with baby cos lettuce, green gazpacho and candied lime.  The latter stole the show for me, with its sweet twist giving a fresh touch to the dish.  Bill had the beef skirt tacos with green tomatillo, candied pepitas and nasturtium leaves, which he found just “okay”.  Top marks though for Mexico’s colourful stand design.

And so to my favourite part of any meal, anytime, anywhere  (I scour the dessert menu before anything else – don’t tell me you’re not the same?).  There was no way I was savouring any dessert other than that from Kermadec chef, Juan Balsani.  After his demo at the NZ Food Bloggers’ Conference at the Chocolate Festival in Wellington, I have been waiting for this. 

The chocolate I've been waiting for...

If there was any reason I wish I had not taken Bill along, it was precisely at that moment when, chatting with chef Juan, he (jokingly, okay?) told him that I had his photo on our walls at home.  I wished I’d worn sharp stilettos with which to force a long hole for me to drop into with my scarlet face (and given Bill a quick, sharp kick on my way down!)  I recovered enough to immerse myself in the delicious experience of breaking open that chocolate globe to spoon up the glorious silky chocolate inside, combining it with the taste texture sensation of cocoa powder and green pepper tuiles, balsamic poached strawberries and polenta crumbs.  Maravilloso!

For the record, Bill did another round of mains and dessert at Depot with a BBQ pulled pork slider with apple slaw and pickled jalapenos and, to finish, his favourite sweet – lemon meringue pie with cream – which looked so appealing with its perfect peaks.  He was more than happy with his choices.

We headed home out of the city and over the hills after a thoroughly pleasant evening meandering around food tents, listening to cool music from the Nairobi Trio or Peter Urlich and tasting whatever took our fancy from places we'd really like to visit.  That’s what Taste of Auckland is all about.